Modern office settings are designed to maximize productivity per unit cost of office space. According to the present mindset, a first hypothetical office setting is thought to be more efficient than a second office setting if the first office is capable of housing assets (human or otherwise) sufficient to yield production equal to that of the second office, but at a lower cost. The unarticulated assumption is that the office setting does not contribute to or affect productivity, rather it merely houses the assets actually responsible for production.
As an outgrowth of the present mindset, only modest attention has been paid to environmental controls for office settings. Temperatures are kept around 72° F. Lights are kept at a level bright enough to enable employees to read. Carpeting may be laid to absorb noise. In short, to the extent environmental variables are controlled at all, they are maintained in a manner intended to be minimally hospitable to employees.
Standing in contradiction to modern office design practice is the knowledge that environmental variables affect behavior. For example, it is known that sunlight affects the mood and activity level of some people. During prolonged periods of low sunlight levels, some people experience symptoms of depression. Given that environmental variables affect human behavior, it would be desirable to have an environmental control system deployable in an office setting for the purpose of producing an environment that stimulates employees of the office.
A desirable environmental control system may have the ability to observe the effects, as exhibited by employees, of various environmental variables as they are manipulated. Additionally, the control system may possess intelligence, in that it will have the capacity to learn how to control the office environment to produce a setting that stimulates employees. Optionally, the control system may possess a database that instructs the system how to control the office setting.